Local activist Bonnie Hauser has formed a committee to seek the Democratic nomination for the at-large seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

Commissioners Chairman Barry Jacobs, whose at-large seat is up this year, has not announced whether he will seek a fifth term.

Hauser, 60, said she wants to make a difference in a new way.

“Orange County faces an uncertain environment given changes in the legislature, including cuts in school funding and social services. Our population is aging and local governments are pursuing options to increase size and density. All of this will impact our priorities for the future, and how county works to address them,” she said.

The New York native has lived in Orange County since 2003. She founded Orange County Voice in 2008 to stop plans to site an airport and waste transfer station in rural Orange County. She is also a board member with Justice United, a nonprofit social justice organization, and worked closely with others to close the county landfill and get water, sewer and a community center for neighbors. She has advocated for making it a higher priority to provide bus service to residents dependant on public transporation than to build a light-rail transit between UNC and Durham.

Hauser is retired from the partnership of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she managed a consulting practice specializing in cost restructuring and profit improvement. She left Evanston, Ill., in 2003 for Orange County. She also serves on the boards of Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Triangle and is a volunteer in the Orange County Schools.